Lower Manhattan's arts scene took a hit when Dance New Amsterdam vacated its TriBeCa home this fall. But a new tenant with equal dance-world credibility on Thursday signed a 20-year lease for the 36,000-square-foot space at 280 Broadway: choreographer Gina Gibney, founder of Gibney Dance.

Her nonprofit contemporary dance company and rehearsal center currently leases a floor of 890 Broadway, a Flatiron-area building with a long history as a creative hub. Gibney Dance has seven studios stretching over 15,000 square feet that it rents out to dance companies, Broadway shows or anyone in need of arts-related space.

By adding the downtown facility, Gibney Dance will more than double its operations—and it's not just empire-building.

"The primary reason we want to expand is to save the space for the dance community," said Ms. Gibney. "I think we had to do it."

Affordable, convenient rehearsal space is one of the most pressing performing-arts needs in New York. The shuttering of DNA after it filed for Chapter 11 protection threatened a further reduction: It could have easily been leased and renovated into something other than a center for dance.

"This is a site that is known to and valued by the dance community," said Lane Harwell, executive director of Dance NYC, an advocacy group.

There is, however, an even more important stakeholder: the city, which owns 280 Broadway. As part of an agreement with the building's original commercial developer, the city negotiated to have a cultural anchor tenant. As part of a Bloomberg administration plan to revitalize downtown, the city put in more than $2 million toward renovating part of the space as a dance center.

DNA relocated there in 2006, after more than 20 years in SoHo. At the time, Mayor Michael Bloomberg hailed it as the first nonprofit cultural group to relocate to Lower Manhattan after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

DNA, however, soon found that it could not sustain the lease with its landlord, Fram Realty.

Debt mounted, and its prolonged effort to reduce operating expenses was ultimately unsuccessful. After facing an eviction notice over Memorial Day weekend, the company filed for bankruptcy in May.

Its final day of classes was Oct. 13.

Because of the agreement allowing the city to name a successor, the Department of Cultural Affairs was able to identify a new dance group.

"We didn't want to lose it," said Deputy Commissioner Margaret Morton. "We put money into developing the space, and we wanted to preserve it for the dance community."

Ms. Gibney said the city approached her with the idea of expanding, and invited her to submit a plan for what she would do with the space. She has steadily grown at 890 Broadway, expanding to three studios from one, and then to seven studios in 2010.

The Gibney Dance model focuses on studio rentals, but the rates are vastly different for commercial theater versus nonprofit performance. The intent is to make space available and affordable for the small, artsy groups that are never going to make as much money as Broadway shows. "It's a self-subsidized model," she said. "We know that if we have that income, we can have the nonprofits."

Although her plans for the downtown space are yet to be finalized, she expects to renovate 280 Broadway in a way that will make it a resource for emerging artists, while 890 Broadway will be more focused on the needs of those in midcareer, such as a regular space where dancers know to go to that includes room for storage.

Her plans for 280 Broadway include creating a digital media center, a high-tech performance lab and a black box theater.

The performances spaces "could serve a role in helping to train emerging artists," said Ms. Gibney. "They're cutting their teeth on spaces that are extremely informal. They don't have a box office, a stage manager, lighting, a door, a clean floor."

Turning 890 Broadway, which still has elevator operators, into a performance venue would likely be extremely difficult, she said.

Ms. Gibney said dance classes would be part of the offerings, but that is not likely to be the primary revenue source, as the model is based on a balance of per-studio income and a commitment to making space available to artists. The ultimate goal with the new space, she said, is to "transform it into something that is vital and stable."

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